Evermore
by snowcloud8
Summary: Jenaveve "Jinx" Evermore was just an average, 14 year old girl from Ann Arbor, Michigan. That is, until she's abruptly sent away to live in Brookshire, England with her mysterious Great-Aunt Matilda during summer vacation. While trying to uncover the mysteries behind her family, Jenna discovers that she's a witch. From then on, her life would never be the same. DracoxOC DMxOC 4th
1. Chapter 1: Late Bloomer

**Author's Note: Just fyi, I do not own J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, nor do I claim to! No copyright infringement.**

**Chapter 1: Late Bloomer**

I remember my life being a lot more ordinary than it is now. But then again, I guess a person's life isn't ever "ordinary." But I could say, for the most part, it was normal. Unlike myself.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I was special or anything. I was a brunette with hair that just went past my shoulders, and had dark brown eyes. Most would call my hair black, but I would tell them that they were wrong. It actually is some sort of shade called deepest of brown, which has a close resemblance to black, but anytime I explain that, I always come off kind of pompous and pedantic, neither of which, I was. I guess when you call something deepest shade of anything, it will always come off more beautiful than it really is. Just plain average.

Like most teenage girls, I had entered the awkward stage of womanhood, more specifically in my fourteenth year. I was five foot six and a hundred and twenty one pounds of pure attitude. I had thicker eyebrows than most girls, but my dad said I still had a feminine face. He said I was the spitting image of my late mother, Clara Evermore. But since I never knew my mother, that wasn't exactly reassuring. Looking feminine, I was far from girly. To most, I'd look like an average tomboy, but up against male soccer players, I was a force to be reckoned with. I had muscular legs from running and playing soccer, gangly arms that have been worn down with drills, and virtually had no curves, even though everyone in my age group had started puberty in the sixth grade.

Still had to wear deodorant, though. I smelled terrible after practice without puberty, even worse than the guys I practiced with. So the first chance he had, my dad went to the local drugstore to pick up a stick or five of Degree deodorant. Aside from that and the not-so-friendly "Aunt Flo" that visited monthly, nothing else had developed.

My neighbor Tilly called it "being a late bloomer." I'm not exactly sure what she was referring to budding or blooming, but nothing upstairs was doing anything of the sort. Still, she forced me to go shopping for those god-awful Victoria Secret bras. But I loved her anyways (she finally caved to my sports bras idea). She was like the mom I had never known.

Even a "late bloomer," I was normal. I woke up, went to school, hung out with friends, did my homework, babysat, acted rebellious, just like any other American teenager.

I had a slightly broken and put together family. But my life was NORMAL! At least, in my case, it was- or, I should say, _use_ to be.

Well, apparently, even that couldn't prepare me for the moment that changed my entire outlook on life.

My name is Jenaveve Evermore, and this is the story of the day my life changed forever.


	2. Chapter 2: The Best Bad Day Ever

**Author's Note: Just fyi, I do not own J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, nor do I claim to! No copyright infringement.**

**In this chapter, there is a bit of viscous language between girls, but other than that, it is T-Rated. You have been warned.**

***My condolences to people who have actually heard these words.**

**Chapter 2: The Best Bad Day Ever**

It all started on the second-to-last day of school. The sun was shining, the birds were singing; all was right with the world.

Of course, nobody could fully enjoy any of that cheesy stuff, because everyone was inside on a Monday morning. But it was more bearable because it was the last day of school for the majority of students of Ann Arbor High; Tuesday was an in-service day for the teachers, incase they needed a make-up day for sick kids, snow days, truants, etc.

Everyone was anxious to get out of school. And with such anxiety, there are those who are willing to act out and pull off one last stupid stunt.

"Hey Jenna, you psyched about today?" said her portly friend Megan, her short, curly black hair spiraling wildly around her pale face. Her hazel eyes lit up in excitement. She was shorter than Jenna and a little pudgier than most girls their age, but she made up for it with her enthusiasm and bombastic personality.

"Uh.. _yeah!_ How wouldn't be psyched about the last day of classes?" Jenna replied, dumping her things into her backpack and cleaning out the rest of her locker. "How's that going, by the way?"

"Depends on the class. I just finished my Biology final second period, but my English teacher played _'The Rescuers'_ for the class on the overhead. You?"

"I finished Math and then got to watch the 1986 stage production of_ 'Phantom of the Opera'_ in Theatre Arts."

"Oh, I'm jealous! Ms. D always has the best movies!"

"I know, right?" Coming down the left hallway of lockers, they were soon joined by their other friend, Charlie. Her real name was Charlotte, but told everyone to call her 'Charlie.' Her hair was shorter and tamer than Megan's, but it was bright chestnut color, and it was always kept back by a low ponytail at the base of her neck. She was taller than all of them, standing at daunting 5'8 compared to a 5'4 Megan, and wore denim-color parachute pants and a grey Beatles t-shirt.

"Hey guys, didja get your yearbooks yet?" she asked, casually leaning against the lockers.

"No, but I'm supposed to pick it up at Homeroom next." replied Jenna, who was already anxious to get a copy of Ann Harbor High's 1993-94 yearbook. And so were her friends.

"It sucks that we couldn't get them sooner, for autographs and things." Megan sighed. "Hey Jenna, weren't you friends with one of the guys on the Yearbook Committee? Tyler? Maybe he could sneak us some extra copies before anyone else."

"Umm..."

"Meg, you know she wouldn't be able to score us any, even if she could." Charlie intercepted. "Ty's probably too busy trying to organize and hand them out to everybody."

"Oh right..."

Jenna inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing she'd want to do today was to have an awkward conversation with Ty and go asking _him _for favors.

"Anyways," Charlie continued. "I can't wait to see how yearbooks turned out this year."

"Me too! I've been practicing my signature, so I can give everyone a real memorable signature."

"You mean for when you're a big movie star?" Jenna smiled, knowing that her friend had been wanting to become an actress since they were in elementary school together. And she was a phenomenal actress too! She almost always got the parts she tried out for, and was even recruited for productions at the high school down the street. The high school they would all soon be transferring to in the fall.

"You should practice it too, Charlie! You're gonna need it for when _you're _big in Hollywood."

"Uh, the director doesn't get to have a fancy autograph. Unless it's for signing contracts and authorizing equipment, I think you should be the one sticking to that craft."

"Right..."

Charlie also wanted to go to Hollywood, but her dream was to become a big time director. She was a huge aficionado for all things film and television related, so she had tons of classics, from _Jaws_ to _Footloose, _so Jenna and Megan were often the stars of pictures, movies, and voices for her many, many films on her dad's video-camera.

"So do you think we're in the yearbook at all?" Megan asked.

"I sure hope so. You've been in enough school plays, it's hard for you to NOT to be noticed." said Jenna.

"And you too, with your soccer games. You were the only girl on a male soccer team."

"If not, I'll just show up in the team picture again."

"_Anything's_ better than just getting your standard picture. No one wants to sign near that unless you're trashing them-"

"Well, if it isn't _Jen _the_ Jinx_ and her loser friends." Jenna turned around and found herself face-to-face with Brianna Jones. Jones was the absolute epitome of Queen Bee and preppy cheerleader in attitude and looks. She had enormous permed, bleached-blonde hair and walked like a model without a runway, only with a sugary pink turtle neck, rhinestone jean jacket, and tan miniskirt.

"Speaking of trash..." Charlie said under her breathe.

"Well, well, Jones, what do I have the pleasure of being in the company of Bree Jones and her posse of posers?" Jenna fake smiled as the group of girls behind her put on stuck up, condescending faces. No one really knew who they were. They didn't talk much, and they interchanged almost on every encounter, but the school had nicknamed them 'the drones.' Their Queen stopped and stared at the trio, chewing her bubblegum cockily and talked in an overly sugared, bubblegum way.

"I just wanted to tell you all that this will be my last day at this lame school. My family is sending me away to a prestigious boarding school in Paris. The people there said I have a certain_ 'je ne sais quoi.'_ That's French for 'fabulous style.'"

Jenna rolled her eyes while Megan crossed her arms, leaning against the lockers in the dramatic-sass pose she was known for.

_"Please_. You spend one summer in France, and you're suddenly all Madame Frenchy-French." Megan replied.

"And it doesn't mean that." Jenna quipped. "It literally translates into 'I don't know what.' Learn your French before you go traipsing it around, you wannabe."

"Well, pardon my French, but bitch, did I ask for your opinion, Jinx?" Brianna turned her gaze onto Jenna, which burnt like hot butter knife. "And at least my daddy can send me places like France. When was the last time you even left the _state_, Evermore?"

"The same time I hooked up with your dad. Oh wait, that was his last three mistresses. What are you on now? Step-mommy number four?"

"Yes." Bree informed, without so much as hardly batting an eyelash. "And she's so rich, we're going to be living with her in her prestigious Le Blanc Hotel in Paris. She owns a whole chain of them, and they house famous movie stars when they're in Paris for a shoot. Well, I have a boyfriend to see, and you dykes have a homeroom to be in. Ta-ta, faggots!"

And with that, Brianna and crew sashayed away, leaving Jenna in the wake. Having finally caught up, she almost couldn't help herself at having the last word and blurted out- "I hope you choke on all the caviar and SNAILS they serve at the film parties!"

"Be cool, man. She's not even worth it." said Charlie, who held Jenna back by the shoulder. She was aware of her friend's little 'word vomit' problem. "She is going to be stuck in Paris, with no one but her parents, who will be too busy for her, and not have anyone know who she is. She is going to need every blonde-bottled ounce of glory she can get."

"Besides, I heard that most of the people in France are very rude, especially to Americans." Megan added. "They don't like speaking English, so they just talk faster French if a foreigner asks for something. She'll be an outsider, just like us."

"At least she's been there... My dad's so protective, he'd hardly let me leave the state, even if we could afford it." Jenna sighed, feeling a little bit melancholy at the truth behind Brianna's words. Growing up with a single parent, let alone a protective dad, was enough to handle as it is; didn't even help that he was a police officer.

But he worked so hard, and anytime he wasn't working, he was worrying about his only daughter. He was very much a doting dad, but in a sensible, endearing way.

"Don't let it get to ya, Jen. Just enjoy the last day and look forward to all the fun stuff we get to do this summer!" Charlie nudged her friend, who nudged her back with a smile as the trio entered their homeroom with a bunch of playful expressions, chattering endlessly about all the stuff they were going to do.

Charlie was right. Not even Brianna Jones could make her feel bad today. It was the last day of school, and no matter what happened, it was the last day she would ever see her nemesis again.

After hearing the homeroom school announcements, the yearbooks were being distributed to the other classrooms. Two sophomores and a junior boy clutched the heavy stacks.

"Where do we leave these?" one of the boys asked, wincing at the increasing weight of the books. Barely able to see over the stack, he looked to the homeroom teacher who held a weary disposition.

"Just set them over there." the homeroom teacher lazily pointed to the desk next to his, the three boys hefting the books onto the desk with a loud thud. Exhausted, one of the boys, who had black hair and golden tan skin, pulled out a list of names and handed students their books as they lined up behind the desk. Because Megan had drug Charlie earnestly to the front of the line, Jenna was stuck alone at the back of the line, which didn't dissipate until near the end of homeroom.

When she finally reached the front of the line, to Jenna's shock and horror, she recognized the distributer to be none other than Tyler Vasquez, one of her former soccer teammates. And Brianna Jones' current boyfriend.

"Hi Ty." Jenna waved slightly, grabbing his zoned-out attention as the last person in line. His eyes grew wide before he caught myself.

"Hey... Hey Jenna." He grunted, finding himself staring back at her. She knew that he was one of the main editors of the yearbook, but she didn't think he would be one of the distributors for it as well. She could feel the muddled, tangible awkwardness like a fog gradually turning into a ball of cotton before his eyes broke contact and quickly began going through the piles of books. She was about to make small talk with him before he quickly handed her her copy.

"Here, take it." he said briskly, shoving it into her hands before he quickly left the room, leaving Jenna in the lurch.

Trying to ignore the uncomfortable confrontation, Jenna went back to her seat and began piling over her new yearbook. She scanned over many pages of student photos, club activities, and sport pages, before she found herself at the end of the book examining the team and club photos. She traced her finger over the basketball, softball, and football team before she landed on the soccer team and scanned over names and faces, only to realize... her face was nowhere in the picture.

She examined the picture again, thinking she was mistaken and looked over the picture too quickly. She couldn't find her face anywhere! Finally, she glanced down at the list of names on the team and found that her name wasn't even listed: she had been cut away from the soccer team's photo entirely.

But why? She didn't miss picture day. On the contrary, she was early to the practice it was taken at. Since she didn't always have an immediate car ride after school, she stayed after in the library and waited two hours for soccer practice before they had the picture taken.

She was supposed to be on the left edge of the picture, but she had been mysteriously cut and photo-shopped out. It was like she had never existed.

Before she could raise any further questions, the bell rang and she grudgingly picked up her books and walked to lunch. She set her stuff on the table next to a boy with dirty blonde, gel-spiked hair with red tips.

"Hey Rutt. How've ya been?" Jenna asked, as she opened her brown paper sack lunch.

"Well, I've only had one slice of baloney thrown at me today," he picked off a slimy meat slice from his back to emphasize before chucking it away. "so I'm having a good day. You?"

"Not the greatest, but I've had worse. I ran into Brianna and her clones."

"Oh no, what did she do this time? Did she tell you your outfit clashes with her nail polish, and you replied by telling her her bleached-blonde hair could peel off the paint AND set fire to the side of a barn?"

"Ha-ha no, not this time." Jenna laughed. Garrett always had a way of making her feel less like crap. "Actually, I heard she's moving to France."

"Of course, she _would_ move to France..." he remarked sarcastically. "For how long?"

"I don't know. Forever, I hope. Maybe for a semester or how long the duration of her father's newest marriage will last. Either way, it will probably be short-lived."

"Yeah, but still, a whole SEMESTER without Brianna Jones! Think of the possibilities! Can you imagine starting high school, where people don't know who she was or who we are? We could totally own that school!"

"It's a nice idea, Rutt. But you know as well as I do, freshmen aren't very high on the social food chain of high school. But..." Jenna contemplated to herself. "It would be nice to make a fresh start. That's one of the main things I'm looking forward to when I go into high school: a fresh start."

"Yeah. You and me both, Evie. We need a major new lease on life."

Jenna's actual first name was Jenaveve, a weird spelling of Genevieve or, in some cases, Guinevere, after the queen from Arthurian legend. But most people called her Jenna.

And while she had been called Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jennifer, and maybe the occasional Jin when she always won at card-games like Gin-Rummy (she was a major card-shark), Garrett was the only one who was allowed to call her Evie.

"Hey guys! Did you see the Drama Club photos?" Megan cheered excitedly, clacking down their lunch trays next to Jenna with Charlie.

"Yeah, I saw you on page 92. Nice acting shot, by the way." Garrett commented. "Your butt looks amazing in that Ursula get-up for _Little Mermaid Jr."_

"Aww thanks!" she gushed. She started mutilating the roast beef on her tray, as best as she could with a plastic fork, before she asked Jenna- "So how was your soccer team photo?"

"I wasn't in it!" Jenna exclaimed, receiving a collective gasp from her friends before she continued. "I don't know why, but it's just not there..."

"Are you sure you made it for picture day? Maybe you missed the retake day?" Charlie asked before Megan interjected.

"No, I remember she was there. She was helping me with my history homework afterschool."

"And I was in the picture with her! There's no way they should have cut you out." Garrett began pooling over his yearbook.

"I swear, if I didn't have my standard yearbook photo, it's like that whole school year of middle school didn't happen." Jenna sighed while Garrett flipped to the sport index. He was also one of her soccer buddies, but unlike the others, he didn't ignore her after she left the team. Heck, a little while after she left, he had been kicked off as well, but for much different reasons than she. More... discriminatory reasons.

"This is bull! This is complete and utter BULL! Why would someone do this?" Garrett exclaimed. "It's discrimination, that's what it is!"

"Not for the reasons you're thinking, Rutt. You're still _in _the picture." Jenna pointed to the smiling blonde on the page near the bottom with the soccer ball in-hand. "Your being gay has nothing to do with my being cut out of a photo."

"Still... it's not fair that you're not in it. You had a broken leg and had to leave."_ Among other reasons..._

"It wasn't your fault! Why are they acting this way? It doesn't make sense."

It didn't make sense. Why would someone cut her purposely out of the photo?

Left alone with her thoughts, she glanced over at other people getting their lunch before she spotted Brianna nearby, who hugged Tyler close to her. She gave him a long, passionate kiss before turning her gaze towards Jenna, holding a very devious and venomous smile. Then it hit her. Like a truck doing eighty on the freeway.

Tyler was an editor for the yearbook AND was on the soccer team, not to mention Brianna had him wrapped around her little finger. If she told him to jump, he would.

A small fire began to build inside of Jenna. She abruptly stood up and marched over towards the popular table.

"You stupid, stuck-up little bitch! You planned this!" Jenna snarled.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Bree feigned innocently before she made a shoo-ing motion. "Now get out of the way. Your loser aura is stinking up the place."

She walked past Jenna haughtily before the latter caught her wrist in a steel grip.

"What the hell did I ever _do_ to you!?" Jenna yelled half-asked in desperation. She seemed frustrated to the point of tears.

"Let go of me, you freak!"

"No! I'm _tired_ of being pushed around by you! How you push EVERYONE around! What is your problem?! Do you_ like_ to ruin other people's lives?!"

"My problem is that you have got five seconds before I call security!"

"Oh, that's all the time I'll need!" Jenna growled back.

"Oh yeah? To do what?" she spat venomously. "Whatcha gonna do about it, _Jinx?_ Huh? Huh?!"

"I'll-! I'll-!" But she couldn't think of anything. For once, her incredible ability in blurting out what she thought had failed her. Wordless, Jenna let go of her arm in defeat.

"Yeah... I thought not." she smirked before she turned around and immediately had a huge glob mashed potatoes splat the back of her head. Suddenly, everything went quiet. It was like the slow-motion feel of a deer in headlights before green beans and corn pelted both of Bree's sides. That action snapped both of them out of it as Bree started shrieking in devastation of the defamation of her newest wardrobe before her hurt gaze burned towards Jenna.

"You're going to PAY for this, you little-!" Brianna shrieked, Jenna backing up in horror.

"N-No, I didn't, I swear I-!" she started to say before she had some of Brianna's hair glob mashed potatoes thrown into her face. A couple of chuckles broke out of some of the students that saw the event. Even though she was partially covered in food, a satisfied smirk still held strong on Brianna's features as Jenna slowly wiped the mashed potatoes out of her eyes. Suddenly, she knew what to do.

"Oh, that is IT!" Jenna shouted, grabbing her container of Long John Silver's coleslaw and flung it blindly at Brianna, but it missed and hit Tyler's shoulder.

"FOOD FIGHT!" yelled Charlie, and soon, it was all over. It was an epic food storm. A LITERAL food storm! Food went flying EVERYWHERE! Lettuce, peas, carrots, chicken legs, pizza, mystery meat, and many other unmentionable school food was flung blindly in the entire cafeteria. And in the epicenter of it all, were the two filthiest girls, Jenna Evermore and Brianna Jones, who were battling it out. Anything they could find, they flung at each other. It wasn't until a tray was flung at the back of Brianna's head that one of the security officers stationed on campus managed to pry the two girls apart from each other.

"What is going on here?!" boomed a voice. Suddenly, everyone stopped what they were doing and all heads turned towards the entrance, which had a very angry Principal Sykes. You could see the stress vein bulge on his grey, semi-bald forehead.

"You two, my office, NOW." Vice-Principal Sykes ordered icily. Downtrodden, they complied and followed after the principal like two inmates on death-row, giving each other the evil eye any chance they could behind the vice principal's back.

* * *

"I don't believe this, girls." sighed Principal Mason, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It is the LAST day of school. What made you two think that it was a good idea to fight on the _last day_?"

Both of the girls began loudly talking at each other before the principal slammed her hands on the desk.

"That's enough!" Her outburst silenced the two teens, who looked down awkwardly at the floor. "One at a time, _please._ Brianna, you go first."

"I didn't do anything wrong. She just came over to my table and started calling me names and threw food at me."

"Only because you were being a bitch by cutting me out of my own yearbook photo!" Jenna fired back, wiping a bit of mashed potato gravy from her eye. Both of the girls were still covered in food.

"Jenna!"

"And I didn't throw any food at you!" she added before Ms. Mason intervened.

"Jenaveve, language, please!" Jenna retracted back into her chair like a struck dog before the principal took a deep breathe and rubbed her temples at the oncoming headache. "What's this about a yearbook?"

"She cut me out of the soccer team's yearbook photo."

"I did _not!" _Brianna exclaimed dramatically. "Principal Mason, I didn't do any of the things she said. In fact, I'm not even a part of the yearbook staff!"

"You little liar!"

"No, _you're _the liar! Miss Mason, she's been pulling these stunts all year because she's jealous of me."

"Jealous?! Of YOU?!" Jenna recoiled in incredulous disgust. She couldn't believe she was hearing this!

"I've been going out with Tyler Vasquez for a whole semester now, and she has been _obsessed_ with him. I even told her I was moving to France, so she could stop stalking me and him, and I think she just kind of lost it, all because the yearbook lost some precious photo of her and him together and decided not to put it in."

"Is this true?" Principal Mason was now looking at Jenna, who was at a loss of where to begin with all the lies.

"She_ did_ tell me that she was moving to France..." she admitted, quickly adding that she hadn't been jealous of or stalking anyone, since she was already losing credibility on her story. Judging by the looks the two women were giving her, she could hardly believe it herself.

"I was just sick of the crap Brianna pulls!" Jenna spoke out before she quickly bit her tongue.

"...And that being?"

"She is-! She was-!" Jenna began before remembering a key factor. "Principal Mason, if you would just look on the security tapes! I didn't start the food fight! Someone else must have! I only reacted in defense!"

Miss Mason exchanged looks with both of us before she sat back behind her folded hands.

"We'll look through your student records to find out who is telling the truth." Jenna could feel her stomach churn in familiar anxiety. "However, we will also look at the surveillance cameras."

Jenna's mood shifted dramatically at that statement. The look on Brianna's face made her almost want to jump onto the desk, do a little dance, and go run a victory lap. But she managed to restrain herself as the principal called one of her security staff over their walkie talkies about the security cameras and had the vice principal bring in their files. She pulled a large, silver accordion binder that had all kinds of complex, hefty paperwork. Compared to Jenna's, Brianna's peach colored file dwarfed in comparison.

Jenna hated that she had a file. And it had all been accumulated in a matter of months! It was like someone was constantly playing a mean prank on her when she wasn't looking. Lockers being broken into, vandalism, broken mirrors. All such incidents were blamed on Jenaveve Evermore, who was simply the girl at the wrong place at the wrong time. She had been having all this crummy luck ever since she quit soccer. She didn't even need to listen to the principal rat on all that she had been blamed for. She only looked up from the ground when she saw the security guard, that had brought the two girls in, hand Ms. Mason the tape.

"Okay girls, this tape will settle the whole debate on what actually happened." She held up the tape before she rewound the tape and fast-forwarded it to when Jenna confronted Bree. Jenna, again, had to endure the looks she got from yelling at Brianna that day before she stared at the screen right as the mashed potatoes were sent flying at Brianna. Then, the tape fuzzed out.

The security guard hit the box TV over the head to make it clear up, but to no avail. Jenna had seen all that she had needed to see. Her eyes went wide. She thought she saw-! But she didn't see-! ...Did she? Were her eyes playing tricks on her?

Had she actually seen the mashed potatoes levitate and throw _themselves_ at Brianna?!

Did the others see it too? Neither of them seemed too sure, but the idea was quickly cast aside when Ms. Mason made her decision.

"...Well, ladies, I don't know what to make of this. It's hard to tell if Jenna actually threw potatoes at you, Brianna, since your back was turned when it happened. Blaming her for the incident isn't fair to her."

"But-!"

"No "buts," Miss Jones. I have made my verdict. But Jenna-" Mason emphasized. "-grabbing onto other students and threatening them is NOT tolerated at this school. This little incident can count as an act of bullying and must be severely punished. However, since it is the last day of school, and everyone's anxious to for summer vacation, I'm willing to just let you off with a warning. Any other incident today, and it's an immediate school suspension, am I clear?"

"Yes." Jenna was sullen, but grateful she didn't have to start off her summer with detention, or worse.

"Brianna?"

"_Crystal."_ Brianna smiled sweetly before the two were released. Jenna bit down heavily on her lip and refused to make eye contact with Brianna, who decided to take one last stab at her and whispered into her ear-

"Too bad your little friend Gay-Rett couldn't be here to back you up, eh Ji-?" She wasn't even able to finish her sentence before Jenna punched her in the mouth. Brianna squealed in pain, dramatically rolling around on the floor and crying into her hands, moaning and holding her jaw like Jenna had punched it off the hinges.

"Miss Evermore!" Principal Mason quickly helped Brianna to her feet and sent her to the nurse's office. "I hope that punch was worth it. That little misdemeanor cost you the rest of today and tomorrow. Go home, and I'll be seeing you bright and early at 7:30 am sharp tomorrow for detention."

* * *

Sitting on the curb, Jenna was left feeling the emptiest pang in her stomach, from both lack of lunch and an emotional rollercoaster of nauseous anger, guilt, and anxiety. Because of punching Brianna, Jenna had to collect her books and clean out her locker early, with no signatures for her yearbook and no explanations for her friends. She was really kicking herself for it too; her History class was supposed to play Clue (the movie) today, one of Jenna's favorite all-time classics.

She had to change into a gym uniform, which was a grey tshirt and a blue pair of athletic shorts, because of the smell and grossness of it all, and had her previous outfit stuffed into a garbage bag the secretary gave her to store her food stained clothes. She managed to pick out most of the food in her hair in the bathroom, but she still smelled something awful.

Since Jenna didn't have a cellphone, she also had the terrible task of having to call her father using the school's office telephone, leave a message, and then call up her neighbor, Tilly, who did answer, and explain why she had to leave work early and pick her up an hour before 1 o'clock.

Luckily, Tilly was already on her lunch break when Jenna had called and said she would be right over as soon as possible.

Tallulah 'Tilly' Manterfield was assigned to the Evermores ever since Jenna was six years old. She was a social worker for the lawyer firm, Williams, Hooper, and Doyle, that her father worked at as a security guard. Since she never liked to split up a family, she would always help out in any way that she could. She would sometimes pick Jenna up for school, let the latter hang out in her house if Jenna was locked out of her home or simply if her father couldn't find an available sitter.

Before Tilly, Jenna remembered moving around a lot when she was little, but didn't remember where. All she remembered was that she got a new stuffed animal anytime they did move around. She counted her total of stuffed animals up to ten cabbage patch kids and fifteen beanie babies. She only loved hard on one of these animals, and it was her oldest stuffed bear, Winnie the Pooh, and his little pal, Piglet. She knew that he wasn't _really _Winnie the Pooh, but she considered him Winnie after she dressed him up in one of her old baby t-shirts that happened to fit him snuggly and be the color red. Piglet, she remembered acquiring the first time she met Tilly.

_"Jenna, this is Ms. Manterfield. She's going to be taking care of us for now on."_

_"Is she going to make us go away again, daddy?"_

_"No, sweetie, she's here to help us stay."_

_"Hi, Jenna. I've heard a lot about you from your dad." said Ms. Manterfield, who grinned a warm, mega-watt smile. "Is that Winnie the Pooh you're holding there?"_

_"Yeah. I love Winnie the Pooh. He's my favorite in the whole wide world!"_

_"Really?"_

_"Yeah! I love him the mostest, toastest, roastest!"_

_"So do I. Do you have any other of his friends?"_

_"No. But I really like Piglet. They're best friends."_

_"Me too. Which is why, I got you this." Tilly dug into her purse before she pulled something out and handed it to Jenna."'Cause every Pooh deserves a Piglet."_

_She handed her a stuffed, velvet Piglet with a light green jumper._

_"Wow! Thank you, ma'am!"_

_"Please, call me Tilly." she smiled, leaning down towards Jenna. __"I hope you'll think of me like a friend. Just like Pooh and Piglet."_

In present day, Jenna snapped out of such happy memories when she saw Tilly pull up at the curve in her old, 1970 AMC Gremlin. Her wild, curly-cue auburn hair was pinned back into a frazzled messy bun, strings of it occasionally springing out of place. Feeling as low as the pavement she was sitting on, Jenna slung her backpack over her shoulders and crawled into the car, which clattered and puttered smoke and static radio signals. Other than that, the car was completely quiet.

"Thank you for picking me up..." Jenna mumbled finally, sulking uncomfortably in the passenger seat as Tilly pulled onto the road away from the school towards her house.

"No problem, Jenna. Anytime." Tilly replied, not taking her honey-amber eyes off the road. Other than that, neither really knew what to say to each other. Jenna explained all that she could over the phone, but she almost ended up crying in shame for disappointing her. Even though Tilly was supposed to be 'just a social worker' for Jenna, they had long moved past the fearful feeling of Jenna being taken away from her father. In fact, Tilly was a bit of a mother-figure for Jenna growing up.

The latter's mother had went MIA during an army assignment overseas when she was one and never came back, so it was declared she was an automatic killed-in-action (KIA). She was always known for her big heart and unwavering altruism, even in the most darkest and depressing situations. It's why so many kids loved her, and she loved them dearly.

Which is why Jenna felt terrible that she had to make her come out all this way to pick her up from school, and for having to explain to her why she was sent home in the first place.

"..Have you eaten anything?"

"No... didn't get to." Jenna replied, remorseful that she had wasted a perfectly good lunch to get back at Brianna.

"Well..." Tilly quick glanced at her watch. "I've still got a little bit of a lunch break left. Do you want to get a quick bite to eat?"

"...I thought I was being punished." Jenna was a little caught off-guard by her offer. "Do I really deserve to go out to eat anywhere?"

"I'm not going to let you starve, kid, even if you are wearing your lunch in your hair. I mean, what kind of social worker would I be if I let a kid go hungry?" Tilly did a light-hearted chuckled, picking a noodle Jenna missed from her hair, which made Jenna smile a little. "Besides, it's not a restaurant; it's takeout. So, where to?"

"Any where's fine."

"Okay. McDonald's it is." Tilly declared, passing a large stream of fast food joints before she pulled into the 'M' fry-shaped drivethrough. "The usual, I take it?"

"Yep."

"Okay, I would like a McChicken Meal, plain, with a medium mountain dew," she announced into the speaker. "...aaaand a Barbie Happy Meal with six piece chicken nuggets and a water. Not bottled water. Just regular water. Aaand that will be all."

"Getting a Happy Meal for Paige?" Jenna asked as they pulled around and paid for their order.

"Yeah. She can just heat it up after she gets home." Paige was Tilly's nine year old adopted daughter. She had fostered her for about four years before the state would finally let her adopt her, since she was an international adoption. She couldn't have any children with her long-term boyfriend, Adam, due to her being declared infertile in her mid-twenties after chemotherapy treatment for her cancer (Jenna never knew what kind of cancer she had, since she thought it was a bit rude and personal to ask). Plus, after seeing and dealing with so many foster kids that go through the system, it takes its toll on a kind-hearted soul like Tilly.

The McDonald's employee thanked her for her business and handed Tilly the bag, but didn't move the car. "Make sure they got our order right."

Jenna dug into the sack of food, and even checked the inside of the McChicken for mayonnaise, but all was in order.

"Nope. For once, they got our meal right." she examined before nibbling on one of the gooey French fries.

"Excellent. This means I can drop you off at home real quick, before I have to go back to work."

"Won't you get in trouble for being out too late for your lunch break?"

"Nope. I'm usually take long breaks because the home visits sometimes take longer than usual, and I use my own-time to make sure they are thorough. If worst comes to worst, I'll just say that I had a business related emergency."

"You don't have to put your job at risk on my account..." Jenna suddenly felt bad again.

"Honey, you _are _my business. There's no reason to get all bent out of shape." Tilly patted Jenna's shoulder and regarded her with a warm smile. She always called her 'honey.' "If you really feel that bad about it, feed me one of those fries and we'll call it even-stevens."

Not willing to argue with the driver, Jenna fed her three of her fries while Tilly was still staring at the road before they arrived at their destination.

"Here's your stop." Tilly announced, parking in front of Jenna's house, the former's home only a few houses down the street. It wasn't a large or even remotely new, but it held together alright, even if it did have a few broken down bricks.

"Thanks..." Jenna nodded, jiggling the hand on the car door before it finally jimmied open. She felt a little awkward, standing there in the early afternoon, before school let out, with a bag of McDonald's in hand and cafeteria food in her hair. "Umm, about today.."

Tilly shook her head.

"You don't have to say anything else about it. You already did your explaining on the phone. Just make sure to get a shower in and sort things out with your father. I'll be calling him later today if he needs any information about the incident."

"Okay... see ya." Jenna waved as Tilly sped down the neighborhood. Sneaking out her house key hidden under a turned-over flower pot, Jenna let herself into the house and plopped her stuff near her pile of shoes next to her dad's worn out loafers. She made sure to dunk all her clothes in water to get the stains out before she chucked them in the wash and started a load. She had to rinse out her hair twice before she could properly wash it. Even after her shower, she still sensed a faint odor of peas and mashed potatoes.

Setting down after a fresh shower, Jenna didn't know what she was going to do when her dad came home. Eugene Evermore was always a humble, homely man; you could see it in his shoes. You know that a body has been places if they have really worn out shoes, and Jenna's dad had holes in his. He was often busy at his security job at the firm, being a bit of a workaholic. It was originally a temp job, but he soon discovered that he really wanted to protect and help people.

But somehow, he couldn't help his own daughter. Since he didn't have any sisters or siblings growing up, he hardly knew what to do with her when she progressed in the early stages of "womanhood" (thank god for Tilly).

Still, he tried to be there for his daughter, even through their more... uncomfortable situations. He always managed to go to all of her soccer games, even if she didn't play, and would be there for her to pick her up afterwards. He was forgiving, but blamed a lot of what happened on himself; he was a natural worrier and a bit of a masochist in that way.

This thought made her feel even worse, the guilt rising like bile in the back of her throat that not even the sweet taste of mountain dew after a fresh shower could drown out the raw remorse Jenna Evermore was feeling.

_'So, I'm alone... for five plus hours, minus a shower, until my dad comes home to ground me, indefinitely. What shall I do until then?'_ she thought before she studied over the pamphlet on the coffee table.

_'Let's see what's on the TV guide.'_

Since they didn't have cable, their TV could only pick up local channels with their rabbit-ear antennae. _I Love Lucy_ had just finished and was now doing an hour composed of _Matlock_ - or as her father called it, "Naplock," since most people fell asleep by the time it lazed around on a warm afternoon - and _M*A*S*H*._ But Jenna never liked war shows, aside from _Hogan's Heroes_ or _Gomer Pyle, USMC _(neither of which were currently on air). It reminded her of what war took from her.

Other channels were composed of standard daytime television, from soap operas with terrible lighting, such as _The Young and the Restless _or_ the Bold and the Beautiful, _to the equally as depressing _Jerry Springer _and_ the Maury Show_, the latter of which Jenna couldn't make any sense on why someone would publicize DNA tests to tell someone they were or weren't the father, let alone, allow the guests to publically beat the crap out of each other when things got too heated in the former; and the audience just egged them on! How humiliating could public television get?

_'Maybe I'll just listen to my music...'_ Jenna thought, clicking the TV off._ 'Dad'll probably take it away for life, so I better soak it up while I can.'_

She pulled out her CD player and began drifting off to the soothing sounds of Elvis, the Beatles and Queen.


End file.
